Filmmaker Magazinehttps://filmmakermagazine.com
Publication with a focus on independent film, offering articles, links, and resources.Mon, 19 Nov 2018 20:49:42 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8“I Wanted to Do for Adam What Demme Did for David Byrne [in Stop Making Sense]”: Steven Brill Talks About Directing Adam Sandler: 100% Freshhttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106329-i-wanted-to-do-for-adam-what-demme-did-for-david-byrne-in-stop-making-sense-steven-brill-talks-about-directing-adam-sandler-100-fresh/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106329-i-wanted-to-do-for-adam-what-demme-did-for-david-byrne-in-stop-making-sense-steven-brill-talks-about-directing-adam-sandler-100-fresh/#respondMon, 19 Nov 2018 20:39:45 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106329Adam Sandler may have chosen to title his Netflix stand-up special Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh as an impudent jab at the critics who consistently trash his comedies, but it’s garnering the actor some of the best reviews of his career. (As I write this, it’s not quite 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes — just an impressive 92%.) That’s deservedly so, given that the special contains Sandler’s funniest and most wide-ranging material in years. The act, written by Sandler with an assist from Paul Sado and Dan Bulla, veers back and forth between razor-sharp observational material, unapologetically juvenile (and hilarious) obscenity, […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106329-i-wanted-to-do-for-adam-what-demme-did-for-david-byrne-in-stop-making-sense-steven-brill-talks-about-directing-adam-sandler-100-fresh/feed/0Watch: Critic Adam Nayman Discusses the Circularity of the Coen Brothers’ Filmshttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106327-watch-critic-adam-nayman-discusses-the-circularity-of-the-coen-brothers-films/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106327-watch-critic-adam-nayman-discusses-the-circularity-of-the-coen-brothers-films/#respondMon, 19 Nov 2018 15:35:46 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106327The critic Adam Nayman has a new book out, with the self-explanatory title The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together. It’s one of those large Abrams doorstops, like Matt Zoller Seitz’s books on Wes Anderson and Oliver Stone — filled with glossy, well-chosen pictures as well as thoughtful, eloquent analysis that more than justifies their literal heavy-osity. Nayman has now taken part in a new video for TIFF, where he focuses in on one of the themes running throughout his film-by-film essays: the notion of circularity in the films of Joel and Ethan Coen. Nayman starts with […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106327-watch-critic-adam-nayman-discusses-the-circularity-of-the-coen-brothers-films/feed/0Watch: Olivier Assayas Discusses Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Absurdly Important’ Personahttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106323-watch-olivier-assayas-discusses-ingmar-bergmans-absurdly-important-persona/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106323-watch-olivier-assayas-discusses-ingmar-bergmans-absurdly-important-persona/#respondFri, 16 Nov 2018 15:21:45 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106323Olivier Assayas speaks eloquently about his own work, able to talk about them both abstractly and practically. No surprise, then, that he’s as sharp when talking about other filmmakers’ films. A new video from TIFF finds the acclaimed French filmmaker — most recently of Non Fiction, Personal Shopper and Clouds of Sils Maria, and whose 1994 classic Cold Water was reissued earlier this year — talking Ingmar Bergman. Specifically he discusses Persona, the Swedish legend’s game-changing 1966 whatzit, about a caretaker (Bibi Andersson) tending to a damaged actress (Liv Ullmann). Bergman, according to Assayas, showed “that you could be both […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106323-watch-olivier-assayas-discusses-ingmar-bergmans-absurdly-important-persona/feed/0Watch: Tim Burton’s Dumbo gets a trailerhttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106317-watch-tim-burtons-dumbo-gets-a-trailer/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106317-watch-tim-burtons-dumbo-gets-a-trailer/#respondThu, 15 Nov 2018 16:47:00 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106317Tim Burton’s a good choice for a live-action (plus) CGI remake of Dumbo, the latest Disney animated classic to get the reboot treatment. Though he’s only made one circus movie prior — 2003’s Big Fish, though Batman Returns does feature, as semi-sympathetic villains, rejected carnival staffers — his whole CV is crammed with paeans to society’s oddballs and rejects, who he knows how to treat as entertainment for the masses. Judging from its new trailer, his Dumbo will be even more of a weepie than the 1941 original, about a young elephant with giant ears who can theoretically (and sometimes […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106317-watch-tim-burtons-dumbo-gets-a-trailer/feed/0Watch: David Lynch’s Music Video, Ant Headhttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106314-watch-david-lynchs-music-video-ant-head/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106314-watch-david-lynchs-music-video-ant-head/#respondWed, 14 Nov 2018 15:58:41 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106314We are something of David Lynch completists here at Filmmaker, hence this posting of Ant Head, a music video (of sorts) combining two tracks — “Frank 2000” and “Woodcutters From Fiery Ships” — from Thought Gang, the just-released collaboration between Lynch and his longtime composer, Angelo Badalamenti. Lynch describes the work as “…a short video featuring my friends the ants along with cheese, etc.” As the press release notes, the material from this album hails from the early ’90s but has made its way into almost all of Lynch’s subsequent productions, including Twin Peaks: The Return. From the press release: […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106314-watch-david-lynchs-music-video-ant-head/feed/0Indie Memphis: Not Just an Inclusion Riderhttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106311-indie-memphis-not-just-an-inclusion-rider/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106311-indie-memphis-not-just-an-inclusion-rider/#respondWed, 14 Nov 2018 15:00:34 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106311In Jim Jarmusch’s 1989 Mystery Train, two rock ‘n’ roll-loving Japanese teenagers arrive in Memphis, Tennessee, and make their way over to Sun Studio, the legendary recording studio once the stomping grounds for the likes of Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and, of course, Elvis Presley, who recorded his first song there at the age of 18. In part because of the faint replay of this scene that had lingered in my head for some years, I’ve long wanted to take the Sun tour, one of my many Memphis to-dos, which also included a bunch of famous barbecue […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106311-indie-memphis-not-just-an-inclusion-rider/feed/0“I Didn’t Want the Movie To Fall Into the Category of Just Being a Film for Other Filmmakers”: Duncan Skiles Talks About Directing The Clovehitch Killerhttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106296-duncan-skiles-interview-clovehitch-killer/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106296-duncan-skiles-interview-clovehitch-killer/#respondWed, 14 Nov 2018 14:00:07 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106296Duncan Skiles’ new thriller The Clovehitch Killer is the kind of horror movie that gets under your skin and stays there, reverberating in the viewer’s head for hours, days, even weeks after it’s over. Its impact is all the more impressive given its low-key, understated quality. Skiles patiently, meticulously creates a mounting sense of dread without melodrama or explicit violence, relying instead on eerily stark, formal compositions and a career-best performance from Dylan McDermott. McDermott plays Don Burnside, a family man and active member of his community whose affable, slightly goofy façade masks a serious dark side. When Don’s teenage […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106296-duncan-skiles-interview-clovehitch-killer/feed/0Outside the Box (Or, New York Is Not the Place to Be for Filmmakers Anymore): Jamie Stuart on His Move to LA.https://filmmakermagazine.com/106306-outside-the-box-or-new-york-is-not-the-place-to-be-for-filmmakers-anymore-jamie-stuart-on-his-move-to-la/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106306-outside-the-box-or-new-york-is-not-the-place-to-be-for-filmmakers-anymore-jamie-stuart-on-his-move-to-la/#respondTue, 13 Nov 2018 21:00:32 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106306Filmmaker Jamie Stuart has contributed to this publication since the mid-aughts. When he told me he that after completing his NY-set one-man independent feature A Motion Selfie that he’d be moving to L.A., I asked if he’d want to contribute a final Gotham piece in the “Goodbye to All That” genre. Below, he writes about not just his move but the changing independent film culture in New York over the past decade-plus. — SM The day before the move was literally the worst day of my entire life. Popping half tabs of Valium every five hours, I spent 7:00 AM […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106306-outside-the-box-or-new-york-is-not-the-place-to-be-for-filmmakers-anymore-jamie-stuart-on-his-move-to-la/feed/0Watch: The New ‘Roma’ Trailerhttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106304-watch-the-new-roma-trailer/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106304-watch-the-new-roma-trailer/#respondTue, 13 Nov 2018 16:23:26 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106304We’ve already been given a trailer for Roma, Alfonso Cuarón’s highly acclaimed and hotly anticipated personal epic, and this new one doesn’t feature too much footage that hasn’t already been seen. Still, it’s a beautiful package. Against the strains of Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky,” we get glimpses from a movie culled from its filmmaker’s own memories: running through the streets of Mexico City, a toy train, the home’s housekeeper in private moments of bliss, a tempestuous ocean, the mother grabbing tight on the father, afraid to let him go. It’s a rare case of truth in […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106304-watch-the-new-roma-trailer/feed/0Back to One, Episode 30: The Miseducation of Cameron Post‘s Chloë Grace Moretzhttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106299-back-to-one-episode-30-the-miseducation-of-cameron-posts-chloe-grace-moretz/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106299-back-to-one-episode-30-the-miseducation-of-cameron-posts-chloe-grace-moretz/#respondTue, 13 Nov 2018 15:00:23 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106299From her breakthrough in Kick-Ass through great roles in Let Me In, Hugo, and Carrie, Chloë Grace Moretz has become one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood. In this half hour, she talks about her recent decision to take time to “reassess who I am and find myself within my roles again,” which led to her brilliant performance in The Miseducation of Cameron Post, this year’s winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance (now streaming on demand). She also talks about avoiding what she calls “emotional cavities,” and how she craves to be taken off guard in her […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106299-back-to-one-episode-30-the-miseducation-of-cameron-posts-chloe-grace-moretz/feed/0Top 10 Picks for IDFA 2018https://filmmakermagazine.com/106294-top-10-picks-for-idfa-2018/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106294-top-10-picks-for-idfa-2018/#respondTue, 13 Nov 2018 14:00:02 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106294The program for the 31st International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (November 14th – 25th) — the first under the new artistic directorship of Syrian documentary filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia — feels equal parts familiar and fresh. On the one hand, as in years past, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the sheer size of the world’s largest nonfiction film festival. Once again the fest will include exceptional industry events like the IDFA Forum (and Docs for Sale, the IDFA Bertha Fund, IDFA Academy, etc.), competitions (14 in total), and more meet-and-greets and parties than one can reasonably attend. (Do I […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106294-top-10-picks-for-idfa-2018/feed/0“What We Really Seem To Be Documenting…Is A Concerted Shift Away From An America That Sees Itself As A Land Of Immigrants Towards Something Else”: Andrés Caballero And Sofian Khan On Their DOC NYC Premiering The Interpretershttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106251-what-we-really-seem-to-be-documenting-is-a-concerted-shift-away-from-an-america-that-sees-itself-as-a-land-of-immigrants-towards-something-else-andres-caballero-and-sofian-khan-on/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106251-what-we-really-seem-to-be-documenting-is-a-concerted-shift-away-from-an-america-that-sees-itself-as-a-land-of-immigrants-towards-something-else-andres-caballero-and-sofian-khan-on/#respondSun, 11 Nov 2018 17:10:26 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106251With anti-immigrant sentiment on the rise globally, and with a U.S. president who champions a ban on all Muslims to this country, Andrés Caballero and Sofian Khan’s (IFP-supported) The Interpreters serves as a timely corrective, to say the least. Their up-close-and-personal doc follows three men from Iraq and Afghanistan (and one American sergeant fighting the byzantine U.S. bureaucracy on behalf of his Baghdadi friend) who served U.S. troops as interpreters — not “translators,” since their role as intermediaries went well beyond mere language — as they struggle to keep the faith and avoid death while waiting to gain asylum in […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106251-what-we-really-seem-to-be-documenting-is-a-concerted-shift-away-from-an-america-that-sees-itself-as-a-land-of-immigrants-towards-something-else-andres-caballero-and-sofian-khan-on/feed/0“There Had Never Been A Really Realistic Depiction of the Teenage Girl Experience As I Remembered It”: Director Susan Skoog Looks Back on Whateverhttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106287-there-had-never-been-a-really-realistic-depiction-of-the-teenage-girl-experience-as-i-remembered-it-director-susan-skoog-looks-back-on-whatever/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106287-there-had-never-been-a-really-realistic-depiction-of-the-teenage-girl-experience-as-i-remembered-it-director-susan-skoog-looks-back-on-whatever/#respondSat, 10 Nov 2018 21:56:44 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106287Susan Skoog’s underappreciated teen drama Whatever opens on a moonlit image of two lovers on a field of grass, he on top of her, in what appears to be flagrante delicto — but which is revealed shortly after to be a train run on an unsuspecting teenage girl. Disenchantment is the bedrock of Skoog’s unsparing debut, released by Sony Pictures Classics in 1998 but taking place in the early ’80s. Liza Weil — most famous as Paris Geller on Gilmore Girls — stars as Anna, a 17-year-old who loves listening to Chrissie Hynde, smoking Newports, partying and painting. She dreams […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106287-there-had-never-been-a-really-realistic-depiction-of-the-teenage-girl-experience-as-i-remembered-it-director-susan-skoog-looks-back-on-whatever/feed/0Minding the Gap Leads This Year’s Cinema Eye Honors Nomineeshttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106286-minding-the-gap-leads-this-years-cinema-eye-honors-nominees/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106286-minding-the-gap-leads-this-years-cinema-eye-honors-nominees/#respondFri, 09 Nov 2018 19:08:39 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106286The non-fiction-centric awards body Cinema Eye Honors announced its nominees for 2018, ranging over 10 categories, such as directing, production, cinematography and, of course, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking. Among the biggest recipients is Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap, which raked up a total of seven nominations — the most of any title this year. Others with multiple nominees include Robert Greene’s Bisbee ’17, RaMell Ross’ Hale County This Morning, This Evening and Sandi Tan’s Shirkers. The winners will be announced at the 2019 Honors Awards Ceremony on January 10, 2019, which will be held at the Museum of […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106286-minding-the-gap-leads-this-years-cinema-eye-honors-nominees/feed/0SFFILM and Dolby Institute Launch A Fellowship, Which Will Go to Michael Tyburski and Ben Nabors’ Film Palimpsesthttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106283-sffilm-and-dolby-institute-launch-a-fellowship-which-will-go-to-michael-tyburski-and-ben-nabors-film-palimpsest/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106283-sffilm-and-dolby-institute-launch-a-fellowship-which-will-go-to-michael-tyburski-and-ben-nabors-film-palimpsest/#respondFri, 09 Nov 2018 18:35:35 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106283Sound, sadly, is not an area of filmmaking most people think of first, if at all. A new program may change that. SFFILM and the Dolby Institute have teamed up to create a fellowship that will help filmmakers all the way from development through post-production. The help will come in many ways, from providing artistic and industry guidance to negotiating introductions to key independent film players. Because Dolby is involved, it will also provide a cash grant that allows them to speak with sound designers as early as the screenwriting phase, on top of post-production support that includes a Dolby […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106283-sffilm-and-dolby-institute-launch-a-fellowship-which-will-go-to-michael-tyburski-and-ben-nabors-film-palimpsest/feed/0“This Was the Aesthetic I’d Been into Since I’d Started Making Films”: Cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi on Lensing Camhttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106281-there-are-a-lot-of-talented-people-i-know-that-are-too-nervous-to-put-their-work-out-there-cinematographer-katelin-arizmendi-on-lensing-cam/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106281-there-are-a-lot-of-talented-people-i-know-that-are-too-nervous-to-put-their-work-out-there-cinematographer-katelin-arizmendi-on-lensing-cam/#respondFri, 09 Nov 2018 16:57:40 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106281Alice (Madeline Brewer), the star of Cam, sustains herself as a full-time webcam model at the top of the “FreeGirls.Live” leaderboards. She aspires to break Top 50, but to do so she’ll have to descend deeper into her on-screen persona and farther from her off-screen principles. The system of rewards in this cyber cranny conditions her to betray her standards; the more Alice caters to her audience’s desires the more her fan base grows and the bigger her tips get. When she’s pushed to go beyond her comfort zone, a digital doppelganger of Alice, named Lola, manifests and assumes control […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106281-there-are-a-lot-of-talented-people-i-know-that-are-too-nervous-to-put-their-work-out-there-cinematographer-katelin-arizmendi-on-lensing-cam/feed/0“We Found That Securing Institutions And Private Funders Was More Viable After We Could Share The Breadth Of The Film In A Meaningful Way”: Hunter Robert Baker And Jordan Fein On Their DOC NYC-Premiering The Blessinghttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106274-we-found-that-securing-institutions-and-private-funders-was-more-viable-after-we-could-share-the-breadth-of-the-film-in-a-meaningful-way-hunter-robert-baker-and-jordan-fein-on-the-b/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106274-we-found-that-securing-institutions-and-private-funders-was-more-viable-after-we-could-share-the-breadth-of-the-film-in-a-meaningful-way-hunter-robert-baker-and-jordan-fein-on-the-b/#respondFri, 09 Nov 2018 14:00:52 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106274The Blessing, the latest from the Emmy Award-winning team of Hunter Robert Baker and Jordan Fein, is the story of a Navajo coal miner and single dad as well as his teenage daughter, who navigate life on their reservation in northern Arizona. Other than Erick Stoll and Chase Whiteside’s stealthy stunner América, I can’t think of another documentary I’ve seen this year in which the simplest of premises yields such an emotional powder keg. The film’s a nearly Shakespearean drama, one in which a deeply religious father is forced to choose between sacrilege (taking part in the destruction of his […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106274-we-found-that-securing-institutions-and-private-funders-was-more-viable-after-we-could-share-the-breadth-of-the-film-in-a-meaningful-way-hunter-robert-baker-and-jordan-fein-on-the-b/feed/0“We See Documentary Film As An Inherently Collaborative Process”: Laura Green and Anna Moot-Levin On Their DOC NYC-Premiering The Providershttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106217-we-see-documentary-film-as-an-inherently-collaborative-process-laura-green-and-anna-moot-levin-on-their-doc-nyc-premiering-the-providers/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106217-we-see-documentary-film-as-an-inherently-collaborative-process-laura-green-and-anna-moot-levin-on-their-doc-nyc-premiering-the-providers/#respondFri, 09 Nov 2018 14:00:33 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106217Laura Green and Anna Moot-Levin’s IFP-supported The Providers is a film I regrettably left off my must-see list at Full Frame, most likely because a doc that follows a doctor, a nurse practitioner and a physician assistant serving rural communities abandoned by our traditional (and traditionally broken) healthcare system sounded like something that might put this liberal urbanite to sleep. But in one of those lucky film fest coincidences, I ended up chatting with the doc’s co-director Laura Green on the ride back to the Raleigh-Durham airport, and mentioned I was returning to Santa Fe. Which is both a drive away […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106217-we-see-documentary-film-as-an-inherently-collaborative-process-laura-green-and-anna-moot-levin-on-their-doc-nyc-premiering-the-providers/feed/0“The Film Brings Audiences Both The Joys And Pains Of Our Political System Via High School”: Alexandra Stergiou and Lexi Henigman On Their DOC NYC-Premiering The Candidateshttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106278-the-film-brings-audiences-both-the-joys-and-pains-of-our-political-system-via-high-school-alexandra-stergiou-and-lexi-henigman-on-their-doc-nyc-premiering-the-candidates/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106278-the-film-brings-audiences-both-the-joys-and-pains-of-our-political-system-via-high-school-alexandra-stergiou-and-lexi-henigman-on-their-doc-nyc-premiering-the-candidates/#respondFri, 09 Nov 2018 14:00:30 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106278If you spent the 2016 election season trying to wrap your head around the surreal circus that passed for political campaigning, just imagine actually participating in it while studying for exams. Such was the situation for the students of Townsend Harris High School in Queens, which since 1996 has included in its curriculum an as-close-to-real-life-as-possible Election Simulation. Fortunately, filmmakers Alexandra Stergiou and Lexi Henigman were there to capture it all. On one side is Russian-American Daniel, aka Trump, trying to focus on making America great again instead of grabbing women by the pussy. On the other, there’s Pakistani-American Misbah, aka […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106278-the-film-brings-audiences-both-the-joys-and-pains-of-our-political-system-via-high-school-alexandra-stergiou-and-lexi-henigman-on-their-doc-nyc-premiering-the-candidates/feed/0Five Picks For The Ninth Edition Of DOC NYChttps://filmmakermagazine.com/106266-5-picks-for-the-9th-edition-of-doc-nyc/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/106266-5-picks-for-the-9th-edition-of-doc-nyc/#respondWed, 07 Nov 2018 14:00:32 +0000http://filmmakermagazine.com/?p=106266As a documentary addict who probably attends more nonfiction festivals than can be considered sane, I’m always on the lookout for reasons why I shouldn’t wait for Netflix. And this year’s 9th edition of DOC NYC (November 8th – 15th) is chockfull of one-of-a-kind events. With that in mind, here are just five of my picks for getting off the couch and into the theater. Documentary Now! Presents Original Cast Album: Co-op Not only are creators Seth Meyers and Rhys Thomas two of the big names expected to attend this Centerpiece Presentation, it’s a world premiere. You’ll be able to […]]]>https://filmmakermagazine.com/106266-5-picks-for-the-9th-edition-of-doc-nyc/feed/0